The making of the modern corporation : : the Casa di San Giorgio and its legacy (1446-1720) / / Carlo Taviani.

• Superior document: Routledge research in early modern history
• VerfasserIn: Taviani, Carlo,
• Place / Publishing House: London ; : Routledge :, New York, New York : : Swiss National Science Foundation,, [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Routledge research in early modern history.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (265 pages)

"This book traces the origins of a financial institution, the modern corporation, in Genoa and reconstructs its diffusion in England, the Netherlands, and France. At its inception, the Casa di San Giorgio (1407-1805) was entrusted with managing the public debt in Genoa. Over time, it took on powers we now ascribe to banks and states, accruing financial characteristics and fiscal, political, and territorial powers. As one of the earliest central banks, it ruled territories and local populations for almost a century. It controlled strategic Genoese possessions near and far, including the island of Corsica, the city of Famagusta (in Cyprus), and trading posts in Crimea, the Black Sea, the Lunigiana in northern Tuscany, and various towns in Liguria. In the early sixteenth century, in his Florentine Histories (Book VIII, Chapter 29), Niccolò Machiavelli was the first to analyze the relationship between the Casa di San Giorgio's financial and territorial powers, declaring its possession of territories as the basis of its ascendancy. Later, the founders of some of the earliest corporations, including the Dutch East India Company (1602), the Bank of England (1694), and John Law's Mississippi Company (1720) in France, referenced the model of the Casa di San Giorgio"-- Provided by publisher.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of Abbreviations -- Introductory Chapter. Debating the Origins of Business Corporations -- 1. The German Historical School of Law (Nineteenth-Twentieth Centuries) -- 2. Scholarship on the East India Companies -- 3. New Institutional Economics and Social Ontology -- Part I Finance and Organization of the Casa di San Giorgio (1407-1518) -- 1 Origins and Foundation of San Giorgio -- 1.1. The Comperae and the Sea Ventures -- 1.2. The Maona -- 1.2.1. The Puzzle of the Maona -- 1.2.2. Applying Institutional Analysis to the Maona -- 1.3. Origins of San Giorgio -- 2 Financial and Fiscal Features of San Giorgio -- 2.1. Shares and Interests -- 2.1.1. The Loca -- 2.1.2. The Pagae -- 2.2. Loans and Taxes -- 2.2.1. The Gabelle -- 2.2.2. A Tax on Capital -- 2.2.3. The End of Direct Taxation -- 2.2.4. Lending to Dukes and Popes -- 2.2.5. Locking in Capital -- 2.3. San Giorgio as a Bank -- 2.4. Other Aspects -- 2.4.1. The Moltiplichi and the Genoese Families -- 2.4.2. Salt -- 3 San Giorgio's Political Features -- 3.1. Genoese Families -- 3.2. Offices -- 3.3. Genoese Political Instability -- 3.4. Interest Rate and Political Transformations -- 3.5. Factions -- 3.6. Land and Sea -- Part II The Casa di San Giorgio's Territories (1407-1518) -- 4 Origins of San Giorgio's Territorial Power -- 4.1. Sources -- 4.2. A Territorial State's Accountability -- 4.3. Pietrasanta: Land for Debt -- 4.4. Famagusta: The First Contract -- 5 On the Black Sea -- 5.1. A Multifaceted Landscape -- 5.2. Usury -- 5.3. Crusades -- 5.4. The End of "Colonies" -- 6 In Liguria and Corsica -- 6.1. Corsica, a World Unto Itself -- 6.2. Lunigiana's Owners -- 6.3. Paying to Be Governed: Liguria -- 6.3.1. Ventimiglia -- 6.3.2. Levanto -- 6.4. The End of the Territorial Dominion.

Part III Genoa's Two Seats of Power: The Commune and San Giorgio (1453-66) -- 7 Contra San Giorgio -- 7.1. The Officium Monetae -- 7.2. First Memorial Against San Giorgio -- 7.3. The Boteschi -- 7.4. Second Memorial Against San Giorgio -- 7.5. Attempting to Take Over the Commune (1453-58) -- 7.6. Francesco Sforza (1464) -- 8 Machiavelli and San Giorgio -- 8.1. Machiavelli Encountering Genoese Merchants -- 8.2. Florentine Histories, VIII, 29 -- 8.3. Late Genoese Debate -- 8.4. Anachronistic References to Machiavelli -- Part IV The Casa di San Giorgio's Model (1518-1791) -- 9 The Dutch East India Company (VOC) and San Giorgio -- 9.1. Ambassadors' Views on the VOC's Political Role -- 9.2. Paul de Choart de Buzanval -- 9.3. The Foundation of the VOC -- 9.4. Analysis of Buzanval's Text -- 9.5. Buzanval's Text in Context -- 9.6. Genoese Traders and the East Indies -- 9.7. The Following Century: Ferdinando Galiani -- 10 The Bank of England and San Giorgio -- 10.1. Foundation of the Bank of England -- 10.2. English Bank Founders and Machiavelli -- 10.3. Founders of Banks and Machiavelli in North America -- 11 John Law and the Mississippi Company -- 11.1. Law's Schemes -- 11.2. Heinrich Fick and Earl Hamilton on Law's Schemes -- 11.3. Law and Genoese Traders -- 11.4. The Machiavellian Scheme -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Appendix 3 -- Appendix 4 -- Bibliography -- Index.